Door-operated sliding basket



April 19, 1966 c. F. PE'rKwrrz ETAL 3,246,939

DOOR-OPERATED SLIDING BASKET 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 15, 1963 S z T210 Nvhn W WWW! n mms. W PM m MM 1. rs e Fig. 2

April 19, 1966 c. F. PETKwl-rz ETAL 3,246,939

DOOR-OPERATED SLIDING BASKET 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 15, 1963 rNvEN'roRs 00"/ E Pe/kw/Iz BY Orson ll. Saunders April 19, 1966 c. F. PE'rKwlTz ETAL 3,246,939

DOOR-OPERATED SLIDING BASKET 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed Nov. 15, 1963 S f my 6 mrmu/ n Www W IP. m Mm." w 000./ v.. B m

April 19, 1966 c. F. PETKwlTz ETAL 32463939 DOOR-OPERATED SLIDING BASKET Filed Nov. 15, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

, INVENTORS' F Pefkwiz Orson l! Saunders 24 Ffg. 5

Their Af/omey United States Patent O 3,246,939 DOGR-OPERATED SLI'DING BASKET Carl F. Petiovitz and rson V. Saunders, Dayton, Ohio, assignors to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mieli., a corporaton of Delaware Filed Nov. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 324,039 2 Claims. (Cl. 312-274) This invention pertains to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to compartments containing laterally movable shelves and baskets. x

The inconvenience of finding and removin-g articles from the rear areas of a wel-l filled basket or shelf is well known. Various forms of roller and sliding s'helves have been used in an a-ttempt to overcome this inconvenience. Most roller shelves have proved too complicated and expensive for manufacture and sale in todays `highly competitive cost-conscious economy. The less expensive sliding shelves and baskets develop undesirable large frietion when heavily loaded. Since the sliding feature -is most needed when the shelf is well filled, this is very objectionable. Another objection to roller and sliding shelves and baskets is that one hand must be free to move them. It has been proposed to provide an arrangement by which the opening of the access door will coincidentally pull out a shelf. Ho'wever the mechanisms heretofore proposed have been too complicated and expensive to be practical.

lt is an object of this invention to provide a simple inexpensive, praotical arrangernent for easily pulling out a basket for easy accessibility when a door is opened.

lt is another object of this invention to provide an inexpensive, practical basket provided at the front center with an integral track which can be used for pulling it out coinciden-tally with the opening of the door.

It is another object of this invention to provide hinge means for a drop door which can be used for Operating a switch for lighting the compartment when the door is open.

It is another object of this invention |to provide hinged means for a dropped door which can be combined with a counter-balance means.

These and other objects are attained in the form shown in the drawings in which a Wire :basket is laterally movable into and out of a refrigerated compartmen-t by providing it with suitable supporting racks and supporting rollers. The basket is also provided with an integral track arrangement at the front center which cooperates with rollers mounted upon a projecting arm of the door so that when the door is opened the basket is pulled out suficiently to make substantially all parts of it readily accessible. Two sickle shaped pivot arms are fastened to bottom of the door and each -has its opposi'te end portion pivotally connected to the cabinet in the compartment. One of the pivot or hinged arms is adapted to engage Ithe plunger of the light switch for opening the light Circuit whenever the door is closed. This arrangement insures that the light will be illuminated whenever the door `is opened. The hinge or pivot anms are also provided 'with a projecting means which is adapted to engage a spring abutmen-t faStened to the cabinet whenever the door is opened to the maximum desired amount. The door is counter baianced through the use of two tension Springs each of which is Vpivotally connected to one of the pivot arms beneath `the door.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will :be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

"ice

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator cabnet embodying one form of our invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a Vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 3 -3 of FIGU-RE l;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional view also taken along the line 3--3 of FIGURE 1 but showing the door and basket in the pulled out position illustrated in dot and dash lines in FIGURES 1 and 2; and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the lines 5-5 in FTGURE 4.

Referring n'ow to the drawings and more particularly to FIGURE 1, it is shown refrigerator cabinet Zti having an upper compartment closed by an upper door 22 and a lower compatment closed by the lower door 24. The lower compartment 26, better shown in FIGURES 3 to 5 is .enclosed within sheet metal walls 28 and the insulation 30. The sheetmetal enclosure 23 has conected to it at the front a plastic breaker strip 1.44 forming a collar around the door .opening to the compartment 26. It also connects lto the outer sheet metal walls 151. The lower compartment 25 includes a false rear wall 32 'behind 'which there is a finned evaporator 34. A small motor driven fan 36 is mounted in the opening 38 in the false rear wall and it circulates air from the compartment 26 in through the lower opening 4G upwardly through the fins of the evaporator 34, and discharges the air through the outlet 38' back into the compartment 26 so as to keep the contents of the .compar'tment 26 preferab'ly at below freezing refrigerating 'temperatures.

According to my invention there is provided within the compartment 26 a basket 42 mounted for lateral movement into and out of the compartment 26. The basket 42 includes a heavy upper perimeter bar 44 having a series of laterally extending Wire bars 46 of smaller diameter depending from the sides thereof and the second series of smaller front to rear extending bars 48 depending from the front and rear thereof. These bars 45 and 48 of the same diameter form a grid-like supporting structure for the bottom of the basket 42.

A plate 50 is provided at each of the upper rear corners of the basket 42 and is bent at right angles and fastened to the upwardly extending wires or bars 46 and 48 adjacent each rear corner. Extending outwardly from each of these plates 5th on the side of the basket 42 is a roller 52 each of which rides in one of the tracks 54. One of each track 54 is mounted on each of the sidewalls of the compartment 26. The rollers 52 within the tracks 54 guide the rear of the basket 42 laterally into and out of the compartment 26. An additional roller support is provided by a guide rail S5 mounted on the outside of each of .the sides of the basket 42 beneath right angled oifsets 57 in the bars 45. These two guide rails 55 roll upon the front mounted rollers 56 which are rotatably mounted on the plates 53 fastened to the opposite sidewalls of .the comparbment 26.

The door 24 at its lower edge has two projections 60 which are rigidly connected to the internal structure of the door 24 and which are also rigidly connected to 'the sickle-shaped pivot arms 62 having their inner ends connected to the pivot pins 64. The .pins 64- are rigidly connected to the brackets 66 inounted on the inside walls of the machinery compart'ment 68 and fastened to .the lower frame of the cabinet. The door 24 is held closed by the two tension coil Springs 70 having their front ends hooked through the aperture 72 in the rear portion of the pivot arms '62. The opposite end of each of 'the Springs 70 is connected to a rod 74 threaded into a hollow adjusting screw 75 passing through the rear cor- 3,2 3 ner supports of the machinery compartment 68. The

rods 74 hold each of the spr-ings 70 at such an angle that the effective length of its 'moment arrn relative to its pivot pin 64 is relatively small when the door 24 is in ciosed position. This length however increases as the door 24 moves to the open position as iilustrated by the dot and dash outline of the end of the spring 70 and the aperture 7.2 in the dot and dash Outline showing of the door 24 in its open position. This spring arrangemcnt provides an increasing counterbalance to the increasing effect of the weight of the door 24 as it is opened.

The pivot arms 62 are each provided with stop projections '76 provided with nylon rollers 77 which are located so as to engage the spring stop members 78 mounted upon the top wall of the machinery cornpartment 68 as shown in FIGURE 2. The interior of 'the cornpartment 26 is also provided with an. illuminating light 88 which is energized by the closing of the switch S2 whenever the pivot arm 62 moves away from its spring projected plunger S4. The movernent of the door 24 to closed position causes the pivot ar'm 62 to depress the plunger 84 to open the switch 82 to open the circuit connection 86 of the laimp 80.

In accordan'ce with our invention, to pull the basket 42 out coincidentally with `the opening of the door 24, there is fastened to the rear face of the door a bracket 88 having straddled at its inner end a pair of rollers 9G. These rollers 90 on each side of the bracket 88 each operate within a separate |track 92. These parallel tracks 92 are represented by parallel heavy round bars 94 each having upwardly extending portions 96 and 98 at their op.- posite ends fastened respectively to the front end rear of the perimeter bar 44 of the basket 42 as shown in FIG- URES 3, 4, and 5. The bars 94 also include bottom portions 121 and two parallel angular portions 123 connecting the bottom portions 121 and the front Vertical portions 96. Cooperating with the angular portions 123 to form the track 92 is a second bar 125 having a loop 127 at its upper end which loops around the parallel vertical portions 96 and has its lower ends 129 turned outwardly and connected to the bottom portion 121. The intermediate portions 125 are parallel and aligned vertically with .the parallel portions 123 so as to provide the two parallel tracks 92 between the portions 123 and 125 for receiving and making a rolling connection with the rollers 9% mounted on the inner end of the bracket S8. The laterally extending Wire bars 46 are omitted in the vinicity of the tracks 92 to form a slot through which eX- tends the bracket 88. The strong bars 94 and 125 provide a simple inexpensive and yet sturdy track arrangement which reinforoes the structure of the basket 42. i

When the door 24 is closed, as shown in FIGURE 3, the rollers 90 are in the upper end of the track 92. When the door 24 is pulled outwardly, as shown in FIGURE 4, the rollers on rolling in the track 92 act as a roller and cam arrangement to gradually cam or pull the basket 42 outwardly with the basket rollers 52 rolling within the upper tracks 54 and the outer rails 55 upon the sides of the basket 42 riding on the front rollers 56. This makes the entire contents of the basket 42 accessible so that the contents may be readily found and removed even from .the rear portion thereof. The basket 42 is simple in construction with all the parts welded together in a simple manner. The upper corner plates 50 not only support the rollers 52, but also provide added support for the small wires of the basket 42.

To provide additional storage, there is provided a second shelf or basket 131 directly above the basket 42. Thisv vupper shelf or basket 131-may-be used to hold ice trays.

perimeter bar 133 from which depend the lateral set of supporting wires 135 and the front to rear set 137. This shelf or basket 131 is provided with side rails 139 on opposite sides which may be fastened to the shelf or basket 131 by the fastenings 141. These rails 139 ride between the upper and lower sets of four rollers 143 and 145 which are rotatably mounted on plates 147 mounted on the side Walls of the compartment 26.

While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In combination, walls enclosing a compartment, said walls being provided with a door opening for said compartment, a drop-type door hinged adjacent its lower edge to said walls for closing said door opening, a basket for said cornpartment having a front near said door, means for mounting said basket for lateral movement into and out of said compartment through said door opening, said basket having perimeter means extending around its upper perimeter and having front and rear portions, a first bar extending from said front portion downwardly and rearwardly and upwardly to said rear portion, a second bar extending parallel to but spaced from the downward portion of said first bar to form a track, said door being provided with proj-ecting means on its rear face, and a roller rotatably mounted upon said projecting means located in the track between said first and second bars for pulling out said basket when said door is opened.

2. 'In combination, walls enclosing a compartment, said walls being provided with a door opening for said compartment, a drop type door hinged a-djacent its lower edge to said walls for closing said door opening, a basket for said compartment having a front near said door, means for mounting said basket for lateral movement into and out of said compartment through said door opening, said basket also having bars suspendcd from said perimupper perimeter and having a front and rear portion, said basket also having bars suspended from said perimeter means having aligned front portions and having lower portions in substantial horizontal alignment forming the bottom of said basket, a first bar extending from said front portion downwardly along said'aligned front portions and rearwardiy in horizontal alignment with the lower portions of said suspended bars forming the bottom of said basket to said rear portion, a second bar extending parallel to, but spaced from the downward portion of said first bar to form a track, said door being provided with projecting means located in the track between said first and second bars for pulling said basket outwardly when said door is opened.

CLAUDE A. LeROY, Primary Examner.

FRANK B. SHERRY, CHANCELLOR E. HARRS,

" Examncrs. F. DQMOOR, Assistant xamnr, 

1. IN COMBINATION, WALLS ENCLOSING A COMPARTMENT, SAID WALLS BEING PROVIDED WITH A DOOR OPENING FOR SAID COMPARTMENT, A DROP-TYPE DOOR HINGED ADJACENT ITS LOWER EDGE TO SAID WALLS FOR CLOSING SAID DOOR OPENING, A BASKET FOR SAID COMPARTMENT HAVING A FRONT NEAR SAID DOOR, MEANS FOR MOUNTING SAID BASKET FOR LATERAL MOVEMENT INTO AND OUT OF SAID COMPARTMENT THROUGH SAID DOOR OPENING, SAID BASKET HAVING PERIMETER MEANS EXTENDING AROUND ITS UPPER PERIMETER AND HAVING FRONT AND REAR PORTIONS, A FIRST BAR EXTENDING FROM SAID FRONT PORTION DOWNWARDLY AND REARWARDLY AND UPWARDLY TO SAID REAR PORTION, A SECOND BAR EXTENDING PARALLEL TO BUT SPACED FROM THE DOWNWARD PORTION OF SAID FIRST BAR TO FORM A TRACK, SAID DOOR BEING PROVIDED WITH PROJECTING MEANS ON 